Where are all the turkey hunters ?

[BOWHUNTER45]

we covered alot of ground this weekend and there are birds to be shot but you will have to work for them ...We never saw another hunter again  It was like we owned the whole freakin area ...it was dead ...but THE BEAR ..Well lets say they where thick ...if we had bear tags we would stacked them like cord wood  over all I accomplished what I set out to do and that was to get a couple friends some birds .....we had a blast so all went well for them ...

[turkeydancer]

 
Sorry John - I limited within 4 minutes of legal shoot on opening day ... would have loved to have another tag (or two or three or ...), but the state perfers that I wait until fall and then harvest hens only ...
    
Anyway, as long as you're having fun ... 

[BOWHUNTER45]

    it was like the world ended over there....no one anywhere ....hunters I mean ...

[shoot-em-dead]

I would have loved to go but with the cost of fuel and tags  watcha gonna do

[BOWHUNTER45]

Fuel  yeah this trip was $ 450 in gas  buddy of mine has a big jacked up expedition and it ate us alive  so here we have a $ 450 turkey  Now for those who have no Idea what money it takes to go and enjoy a weekend , here ya go ! all put hunters do not dump any money into the economy ....do they now 

[turkeydancer]

 I figure 50 gallons at an additional 40 cents/gal is about $20 more ... hhhmmmmm, nope that isn't keeping me home.
   
Besides when I die, I can't take any money with me so I might as well enjoy it now.  And I can never get the special memories and time with good friends back if I don't go create them ....
 
Nice pics of the bears and your friend with a nice tom .... in my book, priceless ....

[Wacenturion]

license and tags...........$$

camp food and drink.....$

Expedition gas..............$450

Photo of you and your buddy with Gobbler.......PRICELESS

[MerriamMagician]

Luckily for me, I was able to take my car instead of a truck for all my trips this season. Works out way better, each trip is under $80 for gas. Where were you hunting bowhunter to see all the bears?? I hunt around Gifford and Cedonia and did see some bear sign and stumbled across two dens but didnt see any bears.

[kevinlisa06]

I was out in the field chasin birds again with no luck this trip out them darn hens just kept pullin the toms back didn't matter and then spend the rest of their day on private land.

[turkeydancer]

Try something different like a gobble call and/or a full strutter ... if it doesn't get him in it very well may get the hens in and he'll be right behind ...
 

[kevinlisa06]

Yep had the gobble shaker out as well that didn't do any good. Its ok I accomplished what I wanted to do this year and that was get my wife her first spring long beard and spend time in the woods with her. So I'm very happy to eat tag soup this season. Lots of great memories this season!

[turkeydancer]

 
I use a tube call for the gobbles (just say "tucka..tucka...tucka..." extremely fast).

I also do turkey fights with good results using a couple of push pulls for aggrevated purrs while cutting on a month diaphragm and throwing in some hat slapping simulating the beating wings.

How about putting a deer decoy out with your dekes (ever notice that the thunderchickens will usually only come out after the deer are out and they are the first back into the woods when the whitetails start snorting).

Think outside the box ... you have nothing to lose ... I am a firm believer that if you do the same thing over and over, you can't expect there will be any different results.
 
Anyway, good luck .... glad to see you've made the wife happy ... because if the wife isn't happy, no one is. 

[BOWHUNTER45]

Yeah thats right AL ... sometimes those what seem dumb things will make the whole difference in bagging or not bagging ....But like I always say ....the peacock call always works for me and it did this time too !!  right at dark ...Gobble Gobble Gobble

[turkeydancer]

I agree ... peacock call is my favorite locator too and works great with both Merriams and Rios.

[Chesapeake]

Finally got my #1 bird this morning at 10. Worked on him from daylight till then. Tried every call in my pack.
Called in a bobcat about 8 and saw 1 cinnamon bear and a black sow with 2 little cubs. Was a fun morning.

[turkeydancer]

Congrats ... sounds like a great time ... post a pic !

[Gobble Doc]

Chesapeake,

Nice job.  It is interesting to see what you can call in with a turkey call.  Last year a yote ran right up to my decoy and then wondered what was up.  This year an Elk ran right up to my son and I.  Hope to see a pic of your bird. 

[Chesapeake]

I'll give the pic posting a try.

I located the birds on the roost with a shock call. Then made the mistake of moving in too close. I set up and called, but they wouldnt respond. After it got a bit lighter I used my bino's to try and look and see if I could see them. I found them all in the trees about a 100 yards out looking right at me. They were watching me call. I was busted and they soon flew off. I gave them a few and then tried to follow and see where they went. I couldnt find them so I headed off looking for more birds. After an hour or so I looped back and shock called in the same general area. One gobbled back, so I again set up and called. No response. I called off an on for 30 or 40 minutes with no result. So I snuck over toward where he was and didnt see anything. Threw another hour loop the other direction and on my return shock called and got a gobble. Again set up and called and all got quiet till a few ravens came by. They got the bird to gobble and he was in the same spot. So I decided to try and stalk in on him. When I got there he was gone. So I just set up right on his strut zone and called. He gobbled back from a hundred or so yards down the ridge. I just sat there more or less frustrated figuring I'd just hang tight and see if he didnt wander back. Maybe 10 minutes later he came walking in silently.   

[turkeydancer]

Nice bird and story ... 

once again tom is looking for love in all the wrong places ... 

[BOWHUNTER45]

Good job ...nice bird  I was wondering if anyone was going to show off a few more to end the season 

[Wea300mag]

Unfortunately I have to calculate vacation time and cost into my outdoor activities and turkey hunting always ends up towards the bottom of the list.

[kevinlisa06]

Great bird and story sounds like it definately had its ups and downs that morning. Very nice bird to end the season with!

[Chesapeake]

Best to keep it at the bottom of the list. It's highly addicting. That and 3:40 wake ups get old. I like the fall where the sun rises much later in the morning.
I only weekend warrior it. And most weekends that was just Friday night trying to roost birds and Saturday morning hunting. Then back to the LIST.   Only about $35 a weekend for the gas wasn't bad.

[Gobble Doc]

$35 for the gas to get a bird sounds like a screamin deal to me.  I probably spend 10x that to drive across the state to feed my addiction.  After a couple days of getting to bed late and getting up in the middle of the night to go try to find a turkey I'm definitely feeling my years.  Plus my kids sleep in the car so by the time I'm able to take a nap they are all ready to go again.   I still can't wait until the fall when I can take my kid and hopefully see him put his arrow into a turkey.  If he doesn't get a turkey I'm afraid there will have to be another blood sacrifice of some sort. 

[turkeydancer]

  
Roosted birds 7:00 pm night before, up at 3:30 am, leave camp 4:00 am, arrive at sight 4:20 am, setup at 5:00 am, 5 gobblers start non-stop gobbling at 20 & 30 yards behind me 5:10 am, flydown at legal shoot 5:31 am (all within 10 to 20 yards), and 2 gobblers down 1 ft apart at 25 yards 5:35 am. 

8 hr drive one way with & my share of diesel and camping fees $350 ...
4 minute hunt with 2 nice toms tagged (the bigger one 22 lbs & 11-1/2"beard) ... bonus helping my buddy get a tom ... priceless!

Just doesn't get any better than that ... 

[BOWHUNTER45]

Unfortunately I have to calculate vacation time and cost into my outdoor activities and turkey hunting always ends up towards the bottom of the list.

Totally opposite for me ..I put more time into turkey hunting than any other things I hunt .... its on my mind all year long . I love hunting big game but turkey hunting has always been my main gig ...besides I can not fit many more big game animals on my wall because I am out of room    Just saying !

[turkeydancer]

    Big game fills my freezers, but turkey hunting fills my heart !   

[Chesapeake]

$35 a weekend, not a bird. That bird was 4 weekends worth.

Elk steal my heart and soul with mule deer and blacktail a close second, but turkey are right in the mix.

The spring is a great time to be in the woods. The birds will get your heart pumping and try your patience. Pluss, the very best thing. After the shot the work is easy. They arent nothing to pack out, and very easy to clean.

Now to wait for the fall turkey tag results!!!